Best iPad Games of September 2013

Ready to add to your tablet app portfolio? Do you like Platformers and Puzzle Games? It was a good month for both, so check out this list of the best iPad Games of September 2013!

Gold Diggers

Gold. It’s perhaps the most common currency among video games, the staple for buying equipment and upgrades throughout the Fantasy Genre. In Gold Diggers, players get to unleash their inner greed gremlins as they quest for riches. Of course, you can still use your massive sums of wealth to buy equipment upgrades, but those are only there so you can dig for even more gold! Did we mention that you also get to make your way through the subterranean tunnels in a steam punk digging machine? Well, you do. You’ll also be making some quick touchscreen swipes to dodge flaming obstacles and giant worms. Most of the time, success depends on your reflexes, but, as Pocket Gamer contributor Harry Slater noted, you do sometimes get a gun attachment to blast away your enemies.

“The simplicity of Gold Diggers {creates a compulsive urge,” Slater wrote. “When you fail it’s almost always your own fault, so you start again to right that wrong and get that little bit further. A mission system means there’s always something else to do or see too.”

Tetra

When it comes to Puzzle Games, it’s sometimes worth going back to the classics. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the older versions can’t be improved. Give a Tic-Tac-Toe a few upgrades and you end up with Tetra. The same concept is there – you have to form a complete line of similar shapes to beat your opponent. However, as Pocket Gamer contributor Jon Mundy noted, there are now different colors to contend with. Furthermore, players can also determine which type of piece their opponent has to use in the next turn. “As a result, each game becomes a case of trying to pre-empt your opponent’s plans, as well as trying to read ahead a number of moves to see how things might pan out,” Mundy wrote. “With the number of variables on display, this proves harder than you might imagine.” The free version of the app does limit how many simultaneous games you can have going at once, but the single purchase to unlock an unlimited number is pretty expensive. Plus, Tetra managed to get a five-star rating in the App Store, so it’s a small price to pay for a great Puzzle Game to play with your friends.

Pirate Legends TD

It may seem like all Tower Defense Games are all the same, but we contend that the addition of pirates is a surefire way to improve anything. Of course, the reason Pirate Legends makes it on this list is that it’s also a pretty good game. It features the traditional TD element of placing towers to strategically defend a pirate ship from waves upon waves of enemies. As Cult of Mac contributor Rob LeFebvre pointed out, {source not listed in Sourcing} players get a few other tricks to play around with. A good ol’ barrage from the ship’s cannons, for example, can soften up enemies so that your towers can easily wipe them out. “All in all, Pirate Legends TD provides players with enough challenge and enjoyment to merit a recommendation,” wrote Cult of Mac contributor Rob LeFebvre. “Yes, it’s a free game, but my time is important; I don’t need to spend a lot of it with a bad game. There’s enough here to merit a download, and perhaps even to earn a spot on tower defense fans home screens for some time to come.”

Kid Tripp

While it’s impossible to play a video game perfectly, it’s tough to beat the satisfaction that comes with eloquent touchscreen swipes, keystrokes and button pressing. Kid Tripp is great for exactly that reason – you don’t have to be the Mozart of the iPad, but you can accomplish beautiful things during those moments in which your hand-eye coordination leads you to the end of the stage. Sure, it may look like a simple platformer, but there is a lot packed into this little app. For one thing, the graphics and scenery will take you on a journey through nostalgia land with the Mario and Sonic-esque themes. Pocket Gamer contributor Harry Slater commended the game for its excellent designed and ability to stand on its own despite drawing inspiration from earlier games.. “Kid Tripp is all about the little things – tiny margins of error and pauses so imperceptibly small that when they happen you don’t even notice,” Slater wrote. “It’s about finding the rhythm of a level and picking the perfect spots to leap, fire, and sprint.”

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Carmen manages the Mobile Product Marketing & Content Management team at Big Fish’s Seattle headquarters. When she’s not glued to a game on a mobile device, you’ll find her out enjoying one of Seattle’s many amazing coffee shops or happy hours, knitting at home with the cats, or organizing her scarf collection.